Best PlacesRidgely, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ridgely, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ridgely ranks 32,296th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ridgely
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Ridgely's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ridgely ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Ridgely ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Short commute39.3 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ridgely
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ridgely home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,323, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Ridgely's effective rate of 0.82%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ridgely
Ridgely's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ridgely.
Who works in Ridgely, and how
Work in Ridgely centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ridgely
The coast is about 26 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Ridgely, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ridgely, month by month
Ridgely sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 38° | 31° |
| April | 68° | 58° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 71° | 62° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Ridgely
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 45 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.3 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Ridgely
Schools across Ridgely average a C−, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ridgely Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- Greensboro Elementary SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lockerman Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- North Caroline High SchoolB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ridgely school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ridgely measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Ridgely against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ridgely
Is Ridgely a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ridgely ranks 32,296th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ridgely expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $333,041. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $75,323 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Ridgely safe?
Ridgely is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
Compare Ridgely with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ridgely. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ridgely represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Ridgely detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ridgely: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ridgely: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ridgely: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ridgely: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ridgely detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.